


The Force Awakens Redo

by DarknessRises



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Rewrite, F/M, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, My First AO3 Post, Rewrite, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-02-14 14:56:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13010214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessRises/pseuds/DarknessRises
Summary: [This Fic Has Been Discontinued For Now]The Force Awakens introduced me to Star Wars. It was an entertaining movie and it opened my up to an incredible, creative, and highly nerdy community.That being said, I am one to scrutenise movies, especially for plot related flaws, and there are a few things that bugged me about TFA, especially after additional watches.So after familiarising myself with the universe, this is how I would have written The Force Awakens. I'll address each aspect and why I changed it in the notes.I would like to point out that I have major respect for everyone involved in the making of the film and this is simply my take it.





	1. Poe - Into Battle

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how often I'll be able to upload because of school, but I'm aiming for every week or so. You will notice that these chapters are very small, only a scene or a half-scene. This is to make it managable for me to write.
> 
> (Writes four chapters over the span of months, oops)

The most terrifying part of starfighter combat was always the approach, the few silent and eerily tranquil moments before anyone pulled the trigger. Once the battle began, there was no time for nervousness. Any pilot worth their droid would be too focussed on the techniques and manoeuvres to even think about the possibility of failure, of death, but in the moments leading into the battle, there were fewer distractions. 

A small group of x-wings drifted silently over the planet of Arkanis, a soft grey blanket of clouds separating them from the villages below. It was a rainy, outer rim planet, where torrential downpour occurred two or three times a week and sun was a rare occurrence. This provided ample screening for the incoming attackers, however, it was impossible for them to know exactly what they were up against until after they engaged. At the head of the group, the squad commander sat alert, watching the clouds roll by, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. 

He spoke into his radio, “Left flank, do you copy?”

“We copy commander,” a voice echoed from the other end, “Left flank is is position.”

“Right flank, do you copy?”

“We copy,” came the second reply, “Right flank is in position.”

“Good. Jess, do you copy?”

“Yes I do Poe and I am in position!”

Poe laughed, “It’s commander Dameron on the field.” He thought he heard a muffled quip from the other pilot, though he couldn’t quite make it out. “Now, we’ve been planning this for weeks, so it’s critical we get everything exactly right. We engage on my mark.”

Poe adjusted his grip on the controls, eyeing the readings projected onto his screen. Without being able to see any indication of where they were through the clouds, he had to keep an eye on their coordinates. One of their critical bases on Arkanis has been taken over a month ago by a totalitarian regime known as The First Order, and this mission was critical to its recovery. Scouts from their faction, the Resistance, were able to locate the hanger where the Imperial ships docked. The plan was to launch a surprise attack on the hanger before the First Order troops could retaliate and secure the base from there. Poe Dameron lead the charge with five other starfighters, two following behind on either side, and Jess scouting from above. It was fewer than Poe would have preferred, but the Resistance was under immense strain lately and they had to work with what they had. So with his five pilots, his breathing steady, and the coordinates approaching the desired point, he called into his radio.

“Now!”

The five pilots divided simultaneously, breaking through the dense cloud of vapor, into the darkness below.

And that's when all hell broke loose.


	2. Poe - Fight or Flight

Poe gritted his teeth as he passed through the clouds, his x-wing shaking violently. He decided it would be best not to radio his team members until after he’d emerged, for fear of biting his tongue off, but when he finally broke through, it wasn’t much better. Rain drove into the hull and wind tore violently at his ship, tossing it from side to side. The clouds above completely blocked out the sun, making it impossible to see. He pulled up his scanner and saw his teammates all still roughly in position.

“All right guys. We should be facing the hanger, so let’s get this over w-oooOHH”

Poe dived as a brilliant green light shot directly over his ship, missing it by inches.

“Everyone dive!” he ordered, “I repeated. Everyone dive! We’ve been spotted.”

Poe put his ship into full throttle and shot forward. So much for stealth. A dogfight had begun, and speed was now his closest ally. On the scanner, several blinking dots appeared directly ahead of him.

Tie fighters.

He shot off a volley of blasts from his ship’s laser canon and rolled out of the way. His mind became clear and alert, his heart rate quickened in excitement and he let out a gleeful laugh, as though he were simply playing a game. He spun on a dime, back towards the enemy ships, and shot of more blasts. In the red light, he saw them scatter, but his teammates had fired at the same timed. Unable to avoid multiple shots, they were blasted out of the sky.

“Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” Poe cheered. He heard similar remarks from the other pilots.

A clap of thunder deafened Poe as as white hot lightning temporarily illuminated the planet. Poe spotted the hanger and his temporary euphoria disappear. There were dozens of them. Imperial ships ready to take off. He couldn’t tell how many, but it didn’t matter.

“Guys,we need to get to that hanger! Line formation B!”

“You got it Commander,” Jess said, “I’ll cover you.”

Poe and four of his team dived in a line towards the hanger, blasters pinned on the entrance. If they could get a clean shot they’d be able to stop any outgoing fighters and secure the hanger. Poe shot first. The bright red beams hit their mark and he banked right. The next pilot sent out another volley and banked left. Right. Left. Right. Each shot lit up the sky to reveal the damage inflicted on the hanger. The rebels pulled out of formation ato engage with the remaining Tie fighters still in flight, but not many managed to get off the ground in time. A dozen maneuvers and a few flashes of lightning later, the last last one had been shot out of the sky.

Poe relaxed in his seat, “Good job, guys. Now lets secure this-”

 **BOOM!** Poe heard another deafening sound, this time much closer, and the air lit up around him. He felt as though his ship had been punched. Alarms blared to signal that something was damaged.

Lightning was his first thought, but-no that didn’t make sense. X-wings were protected against lightning. If it wasn’t lightning…

Suddenly, dozens of what looked like neon flames shot towards their ships.

“Blasters!” Poe realized, “Everyone fly up! Keep as close to the clouds as possible. They have ground troops, so the further away we are, the better.”

The squad obeyed, but a confused voice asked, “Shouldn’t our deflectors protect against blasters? That thing did hit you.”

“It did,” Poe muttered. Then he looked to his dash, “Blast! They took out my canons too!”

“Poe,” Jess said firmly, “If their blasters can bypass deflector shields, how are we going to approach this?”

He thought for a second, completely overlooking the fact that Jess stopped calling him Commander. He made a decision and switched on his night beam, basically the x-wing equivalent of headlights.

“No sense trying to be stealthy anymore,” he said, “so here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to sweep the area. Act as a bit of a decoy. You guys follow behind in horseshoe formation and take out any imperial troops you see. The could have camouflage so use your infrared scanners. The rain will distort the image, but it’s better than nothing. Copy?”  
“Copy that.” The rest of the team responded.

Poe steered towards the direction he thought the blast came from and began to descend, being cautious not to get too close. His night beam made large sweeping stroke across the tightly forested area below, but revealed nothing of interest.

“My infrared scanners aren’t picking anything up,” one of the pilots said.

“Neither are mine,” said another.

The rest had the same issue. Not even the barest of a heat signature was visible. Poe checked his own scanner and found the same.

“Did they retreat?” Jess asked

Poe was puzzled, “They must have. There must not have been many.”

“Where did they retreat to?” One of the newer pilots, Victor, asked.

“Maybe they got in a surviving ship and flew off?” Poe offered.

“Smart move,” Jess said jokingly, “Don’t fight a fight you know you can’t win.”

“Yeah,” Poe mumbled absently, “that must be it.”

That should have made sense, but something didn’t quite feel right here. That didn’t seem like typical behavior for Imperial troops. They would have continued to fight regardless of the odds. Then again, maybe Poe wasn't giving them enough credit. Still, his nerves were going haywire. He fidgets with the controls and tapped his foots nervously.

 _I got a bad feeling about this_ , he thought.

"We should land and secure the base,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love watching action scenes. I love reading actions scenes.
> 
> I hate writing action scenes. It's hard.
> 
> Anyway, an aspect you'll see me use a lot in this fic is the new technology. After all, this series takes place 40 years after ROTJ. Think about where we were 40 years ago compared to now. Both sides are going to have some upgrades.
> 
> Anyway, as always, let me know what you think!


	3. Poe - Infiltration

Poe had already calmed down by the time the last X-wing landed. Given that they’d just destroyed the hangar, they had to land on the open tarmac surrounding it, choosing a spot that was as close to shelter as possible. Across the tarmac was thick rainforest. Next to the line of pilots stood a cylindrical, stone building with a domed roof. Rain poured down the smooth sides in a glistening curtain of water, only being parted by the pointed arch above the entrance. This ancient edifice had been one of three comprising the The Arkanis Academy, an old Imperial academy specialized in training officers during the rule of the Galactic Empire. The New Republic, thanks to their endless bickering and indecisiveness, hadn’t decided what to do with it yet, so that is where General Leia established one of the Resistance bases. She had many allies on the planet who trained at the base and monitored the surrounding solar systems. Unfortunately, The First Order quickly learned of this, and sent in troops to reclaim what was once prestigious Imperial land. Anyone in the base at the time was executed. For the past month, the base had been used to house Imperial troops and information systems. Every ship on the planet contained a tracker that was monitored by satellites, which were in turn supervised by the central computer in the old Arkanis Academy. Anyone allied with the Resistance who survived the initial slaughter was now trapped on the planet, unable to leave without being shot out of the sky. The current mission was to disable the central computer long enough for the allies to jump to hyperspace and escape to the main Resistance base on D’Qar.  
Poe did another scan of the area which revealed several clusters within the building, now heading towards the entrance.

“Our friends are in position,” he said, “How’s the view up there Jess?”

“Lookin’ good,” Jess said through static, still monitoring from above in case they needed to abort, “The storm seems to be clearing up.”

She was right. The wind and rain became constant and gentle, and the sky seemed brighter, closer to twilight. Still pretty dark considering it was technically noon. 

“Alright team. Let’s go!”

The pilot nearest to the entrance shot off a volley of energy blasts which tore through the stone wall like it was made of paper, leaving a gaping hole, clouded by dust. The pilots jumped from there X-wings and were immediately met by a hailstorm of blaster fire, but not from the building like they expected. It was from the forest behind them.

“Ah! What the-” Poe shouted as he ducked behind his X-wing for cover.

“It’s coming from the forest,” Jess said, “I’ll cover you!”

Jess pivoted her ship and shot in the direction of the enemy fire, sending up a cloud of dust, dirt, and steam. Poe and his crew dashed towards the collapsed entrance of the Arkanis Academy and ducked behind some of the rubble to avoid the blaster fire coming from inside. They were pinned between two enemy lines, unable to see either, and Jess could only hold off the one for so long. If even a single trooper managed to slip through… 

“All clear, Black Leader,” called a muffled voice from inside. Poe smiled and got up from his hiding spot, along with his team members. They were greeted by three stormtroopers in full armor, each with a blaster leveled at them.

“Hey, nice cosplay,” Poe quipped.

The nearest one snorted, “Not very comfortable though. Let’s get this over with. A month spent here is more than enough.”

Poe switched on a small audio transmitter embedded in his shoulder pad so that Jesus could hear about any changes to the plan. The group of pilots put their hands on their heads and were marched down one of the hallways by the disguised Resistance members.

“I take it your infrared scanners weren’t picking anything up?” One of the stormtroopers asked in a hushed voice.

“Nothing,” Poe whispered back, “Not from the forest at least. How do you know that?”

“New stormtrooper armor. The First Order scientists found a way to block infrared light coming off of troopers without causing them to overheat in their suits.”

“Damn it,” Poe muttered, “That could end up being problematic.”

“We couldn’t tell you sooner. If we tried to send a message out, it would have been intercepted and our cover blown.”

“Shhh,” hissed a pilot to Poe’s right. Down the hall, an Imperial general in a dark grey uniform was approaching. The older looking man marched with his back perfectly erect and his footsteps seemed to follow the beat of an invisible drum. He was clean shaven and had a perfect military haircut. Everything about the man seemed mathematical in nature and Poe felt that he would kill someone with perfect fitness. He probably already had.

The stormtrooper Poe had been conversing with earlier marched up to meet the officer and stood at attention. The two saluted one another.

“Which unit are you in?” The man asked in a gravelly voice.

“Unit two, sir.”

“Where’s the rest of ya?” he asked, eyeing the group suspiciously.

“They were taken out before we could apprehend the intruders. We are meeting up with unit three in the west wing, before taking them to the containment unit.”

The officer paused in thought. His face seemed like it was set in a permanent scowl.“Take them to unit five in the north building instead,” he ordered.

“But sir, it’s standard protocol-”

“I gave you an order!” The man barked. One of the younger pilots to Poe’s right, Amber, flinched. “I don’t care about standard protocol. I want these good-for-nothing rebels out of this  
building.”

“Yes sir,” the fake stormtrooper squeaked. The group was marched down a different hallway, towards the building’s back exit. Two enemy stormtroopers were guarding it. Poe snuck a glance behind him. The officer was following them.

Damn it.

Poe was shoved forward by the muzzle of a blaster and he kept walking. No one spoke. The tension in the air was palpable, an ominous energy building up. Everyone realised what was happening, but no one knew what to do. 

They were halfway to the exit now. Maybe 15 paces.

The main computer was in this complex. The moment they left, it would be put under lockdown and the mission would be lost.

10 paces.

Poe’s heart hammered in his chest and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. A million different options swirled in his head, but each one held its own risks. Still…

5 paces.

The stormtroopers might be able to get them out of this, but would they act in time?

They were at the door. Poe made a decision, but before he could act, the main trooper from earlier stopped.

“Why are you stopping?” The officer demanded.

The trooper turned around calmy to meet the man’s gaze. The two other troopers stared down the guards.

“Now.”

The were three simultaneous shots and the officer and guards collapsed. Dead.

“It won’t be long before someone notices,” Poe said, and the group started towards the central computer.

…… 

The central computer room was pretty unimpressive, just few large hex pads and some buttons and dials that controlled various functions.

Oh. And an unconscious body on the ground. Whoops.

Poe stepped over to one of the machines with a data stick in hand. The virus contained on it wouldn’t be able to damage the system, but it would force it to reboot, giving those on the planet just enough time to escape. 

Poe pugged the virus int one of the ports. A few seconds later, the whole room went dark.

“Is that it?” one of the pilots, Amber, asked.

Poe responded by unhooking his radio, “We’re all clear Jess.”

“Roger that. U covered your ships as best I could, but some of them may be damaged.”

“We’ll deal with that when we get out of here.” Alarms suddenly began to blare. Looks like someone found the guards and officer. “Which we should do right away.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and dashed out of the control room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New technology! That was one of my beefs with TFA. Not enough new tech.
> 
> This whole scene ended up being way longer than I intended. I kept on thinking about how both the enemy and Resistance would have backup plans and extra security, so it got a little drawn out. I finally thought of a really good thing that Poe would be looking for on Jakku though, but I realized that I didn’t completely need this scene. It’s not like it was bad, but if I were a film director and I needed to cut, these first chapters would be the first to go. Oh well, lesson learned. And they still give good character development.
> 
> The trick in A New Hope doesn't really work anymore because The First Order learned from the Empire's mistakes and has more security measures in place in order to prevent impersonnation. Some Resistance members actually had to enlist to become stromtroopers to pull this off, which is why it took a month of planning.


	4. Here Comes The General

General Leia Organa surveyed the Resistance base longingly. Young pilots and soldiers hustled from ship to cargo to ship, stocking up for future missions and checking for damages. She thought she was done with this. She thought once the Empire had fallen that it was all over, yet here she was again, watching a new generation of ambitious, naive kids about to relive the torture she went through for so long. 

No, she thought, it hasn’t come to that yet. This isn’t the Empire. You have the upper hand this time. You can stop this before the First Order takes anyone else away from you.

Her mind flashed to a young boy with a gleeful smile. So much hope. So desperate for approval. Leia bit the inside of her cheek, tears threatening to spill at the thought, but she couldn’t look weak in front of her squadron. She took a deep breath and resumed her confident postured, a slight tightness remaining in her chest. 

Until a familiar looking pilot showed up.

Unconsciously, a smile spread across her lips as Poe ran up to her, also bearing an inviting and somewhat triumphant grin. 

“General.” Poe gave the slightest bow.

“Commander.” Leia mirrored his action. The routine was silly-they knew each other on a very personal level-but it was a habit they somehow fell into, and it made Leia happy for reasons she couldn’t quite explain.

“I have some good news,” Poe said.

“About your mission, of course. Senator Holdo met with me a few minutes ago. She and the others are extremely grateful for freeing them. Well done.”

Poe beamed with pride, but then, something shifted in his expression. His smile dropped slightly and his gaze shifted away from hers. “Um, we lost a couple x-wings in the process,” his said tentatively.

Leia just chuckled and Poe immediately relaxed, “That is perfectly fine. The Republic can help us there.”

“So, they’re finally taking the whole “First Order” thing seriously?”

“Hardly,” Leia scoffed, “but they at least admit that there are some anti-Republic extremists, and are providing us with the resources to stop them. They just refuse to accept that any of it is connected.”

Poe’s voice dropped, “Do you think any of them are in the Senate?”

“Certainly, but they’re far from majority.” Leia paused. “Why don’t we step into my office for a minute.”

Poe obliged and the two of them left the busy hangar bay, heading to Leia’s private office.Only once the door was closed behind them did Leia speak.

“Poe,” She paused, picking her words carefully, “This situation is becoming more volatile. The First Order is growing, both in supporters and allies. Many powerful individuals in crime circles and the Senate have been swayed to their side and are providing them with significant resources.”

“I know. There was actually something else I wanted to tell you.”

“What is it?” A little more apprehension slipped into her voice then she intended.

“On our mission, the reason we lost those x-wings, they’ve created armour that disperses body heat so our sensors can’t pick them up.”

Leia let the consequences of that sink in, her mind already thinking up ways to combat this armour. “So they’ve got technology on their side too.” She gritted her teeth. “Maybe if the Senate could stop bickering for five minutes, they’d actually make progress with these sorts of things.” 

“I wouldn’t count on that anytime soon.” Poe’s voiced matched Leia’s disdain. She may have been a Senator for a while, but Poe had had his fair share of disagreements with the council too.

Leia sighed and reached across the room, a holopad floating into her hands. She proceeded to bring up the missions log. “If we want to end the Order before another war breaks out, we need the Force on our side. That’s why I’m putting you in charge of a classified mission. Luke has discovered the location of an ancient Jedi artifact on Jakku. Your squad will be going there to receive an order of bezorite and magnite, from Lor San Tekka. When you get there, tell him I sent you for the shard.”

“Yes general,” Poe said, “Any chance I can know what this shard is?”

Leia gave him a pointed look. “For security sake, no. And this mission must remain top secret. No one can know but you, understood?”

“Understood. When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow, at dawn.”

“Alright, is that everything general?” 

“One more thing,” she said, a smile creeping onto her lips, “you can take BB-8 this time.”

Poe’s face immediately lit up, “Thanks General. I won’t let you down!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who’s back? Sorry this took so long, but I had exams. 
> 
> We’re taking a break from the action and having some nice exposition! Just friendly chatter between Leia and Poe that gives you a sense of the state of the galaxy. Hopefully the dialogue doesn’t seem too lengthy. I finally came up with a better mission for Poe. Instead of a map, he is going off to find a shard. What shard? You’ll have to wait and see. It is powerful though, and canon. Also, Luke has not just abandoned everyone he loves. He is still the optimistic paragon/everyman, even if the whole Ben/Kylo thing had an affect on him (you’ll see). 
> 
> Also, Poe didn’t bring BB-8 last time because it was just too risky (or maybe because I forgot he existed because he didn’t do much in TFA).


	5. Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR: I'm no longer writing this specific fic. I'm going to take time to plan this out and rewrite TFA then TLJ then probably episode IX in full, then publish it in script format.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read the full thing if you can.
> 
> This might dissapoint you. Sorry in advance.

It's been a while since I updated things (Senior year, you know how it is). Sorry for that, but I do have plans going forward.

I've been having trouble deciding where to take this rewrite and how to tie things together. I realized that I didn't really plan things out. I want to plan the whole plot to give a coherent story that is internally consistent and adhers to the rules of the universe. I want to give a story that respects the old characters and creates new ones that are dynamic and nuanced.

Additionally, I recently watched "The Force Awakens: An Unbridled Rage" that touched on a lot of the flaws in TFA and it gave me more ideas of how to change it. Honestly, by the time I finish with making a sensible plot, I don't think it will really be the same story. This video made me realize that TFA is fundamentally flawed. It's not just some lines or scenes, it's the basis of the plot.

Part of me is afraid that writing the fic like this, it will never get done because I'm a busy person and a slow writer.

So, in the end, I've decided to stop writing this specific fic. Instead, I'm going to take some time to plan out the plot completely, then write it in script format. After all, this fic was born out of a desire to fix the MOVIE which has a fundamentally different format to a novel. I won't start posting until I have a solid basis. Don't expect it to come out soon.

I didn't just want to stop and leave you in the dark, because I know that can be frustrating, so hopefully you understand and enjoy the final project (eventually).

May the Force be with you :)


End file.
